5 Surfboards Every Man Needs in His Quiver

The more you get into outdoor pursuits, the more gear you acquire. Building a “quiver”—a mainstay of products that offer slight advantages over one other so you can maximize efficiency and fun—is how you know you’ve evolved from someone who just dabbles to someone wholly devoted to sport. Building a surfboard quiver is no simple task. As designs and materials evolve, you quickly realize no surfboard collection is ever complete.

We picked some of the latest boards (and a SUP) that’ll take you beyond whatever style of board first pushed you into braving the waves. So go ahead, upgrade your surfboard quiver with new options to expand where, when, and how you surf.

5 Surfboards Every Man Needs in His Quiver

1. Best Everyday SUP: NSP SLX DC Super X

The longboard-inspired pick has a wider tail that offers a loose, playful feel, with a subtle swallow notch that still hooks turns. Flax rails deflect paddle strikes, and bevel at the nose, to encourage toe-hanging off this speed machine. And the 2+1 fin setup is just asking for some over-head waves.

[$1,000; nspsurfboards.com]

2. Best Performance Longboard: Stewart Ripster

This beauty is a contest-ready single fin that makes crappy surf easier—progressing from a sharp-railed tail to a more forgiving chest and popped-up nose that swings fast on glassy faces, accelerates around chop, and nose-rides for days.

[From $1,095; stewartsurfboards.com]

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3. Best Do-It-All Surfboard: Channel Islands CI Mid

This board epitomizes the mid-length board renaissance that enables smooth and stylish surfing, relying on extra volume in the front half to provide speed through the flats, and a double-concave tail bottom (with 2+1 custom fin setup) for flowy carves in waves over shoulder height.

[From $995; cisurfboards.com]

4. Best Performance Shortboard: Lib Tech x Lost Rocket Redux

This shortboard makes the step up to higher performance, and step down in length, a smaller serving of humble that maintains plenty of volume under the chest, a low entry rocker, and a straight rail for added acceleration into otherwise tough-to-make sections.

[$695; lib-tech.com]

5. Best First Shortboard: Album Presto

Album scanned its classic V-tail, 5’7″ fish, blew out a copolymer replica (recyclable!) at its U.S. factory, added twin Futures fins, and slapped on a price that’s about half of the fiberglass original. The super-tough, buoyant soft-top result simplifies wave-catching, making the Presto a fit in any quiver.

[$425; albumsurf.com]